Tips for non-Americans

Feeling like an alien - Pavement in Brooklyn

I’ve been collecting what surprised me the most for the last few weeks, and I thought I would share the list with you.

Did you know that a cider is a non-alcoholic beverage in America? If you wish what’s people call cider you will need to ask for a hard cider.

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Did you know that New York has a very confusing metro system? They are often running trains on other trains tracks, confusing all the poor tourists. The metro speakers are very bad so most of the time you can’t even understand a word of what they are saying, when you finally decide to ask one of the MTA helpers the answer is as confusing to grasp as the speakers: yeah, the local E train is running on the R line till 50th St then goes express to the World Trade Center. I forgot to tell you that a train is either local or express, don’t get the wrong one or you will get catapulted far from your desired destination. It happened to me a few times - I ended up exploring Harlem instead of the Upper West Side!

All in all, it is a good system once you are a bit more familiar with it.

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Did you know that you need to tip the hairdresser’s assistant? The American tipping system makes it really hard to be sure you don’t offend anyone.  Tip the maid in the hotel, tip the assistant hairdresser, tip the hairdresser too, of course, tip the barman but tip differently depending if you are at the counter or not. Tip, tip and tip again, this is what happens in a country with virtually no rights for workers, and a miserable minimum wage.

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Did you know that when the mailbox flag is up it doesn’t mean that you have letters in your letterbox? When you put the flag up it means that you want the postman to pick up your letters to send!  I always thought it meant you have letters.